AWS' future

•

💯 AWS has 2 paths into the future: 1⃣ be a utility: provide low-level building blocks, like an electricity provider or an ISP 2⃣ re:Invent: focus on DX AKA proper higher-level services I fear they'll do 1⃣ while also pretending to do 2⃣ which will confuse and hurt developers. twitter.com/loujaybee/status/1473946267713777668

AWS has known this since 2018, so it's about time we saw a direction forming. I am not seeing that at all! That worries me. We're still years away from this having major impact, but we're seeing the cracks appear and Lou showcases that so well in his thread!

Another thing to note, is that cloud today is not what cloud was in 2006 or in 2015. Amazon, Google, Microsoft all have massive network backbones across the globe. Huge 100TB+ pipes! And yet we still pretend we're in 2006 with region-bound computing and expensive network costs.

We know that, internally, Google has a "meh" attitude towards regions. With 100TB(?) pipes between DCs and continents, of course they do! Google devs are not living in 2006 like we do. Source: talking with any Googler for more than 10 minutes.

Besides internal things at Google, all the major cloud providers and some startups are exploring this area and what it means for computing. I don't think that will save AWS tho. Building something in that area would mean focusing on developer experience.

This "global inter-connected cloud v2" won't save AWS, but should AWS even try to build it? Wouldn't it to be better (and more profitable) for them to be a utility and just provide the base building blocks that someone else will use for this cloud-v2? Oceanic cables are hard!

In my view, the future is bright: AWS will keep building low-level blocks and... "v1.0 products in spaces surrounded by products that are well into v10 and v20s". There is a lot of opportunity for higher-level, developer-focused, high-velocity products and companies!

Credits: the "v1.0 products in spaces surrounded by products that are well into v10 and v20s" line is an absolutely brilliant way of putting it, and I stole it from linchpins.net/post/a-bias-opinion-on-aws-backup-for-vmware